The Best Reader + TIME

Sunday Salon 1.30.11

The New Year Book Buying ban is officially over.
On Wednesday I heard that my favorite used book, cd, game, and dvd store, The Last Stop CD Shop, was having a 1/2 off sale on Saturday. On Friday, Button and I went in to town and scouted out what books we were going "fight" for. And finally on Saturday we arrived 45 minutes early and to our complete surprise there was a line about 100 people deep!

But, all hope was not lost; we figured the majority of the people in line were there for dvds, games, cds, etc and we were right... for the most part.

After waiting in the frigid cold we were let in. I ran downstairs to the games quick to get Sonic Colors for Wii ($20), which I can't believe I scored, before heading upstairs to the YA section. When I got to the YA books my friend Button trying to get around two women (a mother and daughter). These two "hard core" shoppers were, I'll say it, completely rude. They stood right in front of the shelves and so close to the shelves that no one could even grab another book. So Button and I worked around them to the best of our ability.

But these two came with their big boy pants on. Not only did they have a list, but they had a no mercy attitude as well: "Do you have this, did you grab that, what about those, do we need this?" They absolutely went to town on those shelves. I'm not upset because they did indeed arrive before we did and that's how shopping works (first come first served); I'm upset because of their attitude and behavior. It completely ruined the "fun" of this bargain day. Now if there were twelve or thirty other shoppers looking at the YA section, then by all means you need to do what you need to do. But really? It was just us four? Can't we just relax a bit?

At one point Button kept saying "excuse me, excuse me" to try to grab a book that they were directly in front of. They didn't budge a bit so Button unnecessarily "squeezed" her way in. I took a different approach and tried the "kill them with kindness" bit: the mother said to the daughter, "Did you grab Nightshade?" and I noticed that I was standing directly in front of it so I took it out and said, "Oh, here it is." The woman looked at me peculiarly before taking the book from me and said, "Oh, thanks."

That's all it takes — just a bit of courtesy. I was surprised to see this kind of cutthroat behavior in South Dakota — the "mine" and "me first" — it's an attitude I expect to see in NYC at BEA (and I won't lie, I put my big boy pants on then too). That cutthroat attitude, I won't say ruined, but definitely added stress to the day and is the same attitude that sometimes appears in the blogging atmosphere. The need to be first, the need to out do everyone, the need to read the most ARCs, or the newest releases so fast that you can get a review out before everyone else.

It's not necessary.

Just relax: enjoy the book, and enjoy the community.

Oh, but you're curious as to the books I brought home? You'll have to wait a week for my IMM next Saturday.:) I will say this: the only book that I had scouted that I didn't score was Lisa McMann's "Fade" — the book I wanted most! Oh the irony!

Happy Sunday everyone!

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Sunday Salon 1.30.11 + TIME